Branding Technique Insider | Manufacturers Should Counter Disconnection And Distance
The mantra for brands is “Be experienced”. Brands focus on creating a rich, engaging, immersive, and immersive brand experience for customers. In 2017, Starbuck founder and chairman Howard Schultz said the way forward is to make your brand space an “experience destination.” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said, “To survive, retailers must create unique and immersive in-store experiences.” The focus on the entire brand experience as a physically and emotionally “immersive” goal is not a new concept, but rather a concept that develops increased traction when brands navigate in a virtual, digital environment that is a burden for retailers.
The focus on brand experiences can be traced back to a 1998 article by B. Joseph Pine and James H. Gilmore for Harvard Business Review entitled “Welcome to the Experience Economy”. The authors pointed out that experiences differ significantly from products and services. You wrote that companies “… design and promote explicitly committed experiences” and take these experiences into account. An experience arises when a brand “uses services as a stage and goods as props … to create an unforgettable event”.
A retail revival in 2018 came through the use of data to personalize experiences. The retail revival is based on the fact that while we love the benefits of modern technology, we also love the personal emotional connection that is part of retail DNA. The brief resurrection of retail took advantage of its traditional strengths of human contact to reconnect customers. But coronavirus wiped it all away.
The threat of remote transactions
We now face a future of remote transactions where participation and human interaction are significantly reduced. We switched from swipes to waves at the checkout. Do we want a future in which our sense of touch and human connection are minimized? Do we want to be sleepy viewers rather than passionate participants?
The remote control refers to the handheld device that is used to manage our televisions. Now the distance is quickly becoming our way of life. Remote means remote, with very few connections, operated via infrared / radio signals. Originally we can trace the meaning back to the Latin word for “remove”, as in “… to be removed or separated from someone or something”. Once, at the dawn of the internet and cell phones, The Economist pondered that we were witnessing the death of distance. Now we embrace distance as our favorite dance partner. We are facing a resurgence of distance.
Brands are rushing to the detachment experience because we are afraid of entering a potentially unsafe Covid-19 environment. We want contactless, contactless drive-through, delivery and removal. Brands detach themselves from personal experience in order to dissolve the separation from experience.
According to a recent survey by McKinsey & Co., the global consulting firm, “Many contactless services (e.g., online purchase for in-store pickup, roadside pickup) have increased during the crisis and consumers intend to use this range of services continue from 40% -65%. “Burger King, Starbucks and Chipotle maximize the drive through. Restaurant News, an industry trade press, released photos of Burger King’s new business model with expanded and expanded thoroughfares. Chipotle developed Chipotlanes, while Starbucks, known for its experiential” third place “… “Home, Work, Starbucks,” also focuses on driving through as the new preferred way for customers to get their coffee. Starbucks used to be a place where we could belong to a relaxing, sensual, communal coffee world where we could could express our individuality every day with every purchase.
Last summer, CitiCard replaced old cards with a contactless payment feature similar to MasterCard and American Express. These cards provide a touch-free way for customers to pay for goods by tapping the card on the POS terminal reader instead of swiping or inserting a card. Telemedicine is thriving as our goal is to go to the doctor’s office that actually sick people go to.
Telemedicine has become such a hit that Otezla, a drug for psoriasis, changed its advertising to show a woman showing her clear skin to her doctor on her computer screen. And then there is distance learning. Formerly colleges, universities and MOOCs (Mass Open Online Courses) like Coursera were in the purview of distance learning, now the way many children go to school. E-book interlibrary loan is also growing, as is libraries, the heart of many communities that have closed due to Covid-19. Wired reports that e-book lending increased 52% in 2020 compared to 2019. With Carvana you can buy a car online and have it delivered to your doorstep without human contact. Domino’s, already well positioned for delivery prior to Covid-19, is now winning the pizza wars with its contactless delivery option. Chewy.com delivers your pet’s favorite foods and toys. Wal-Mart is increasing the use of online shopping with its Wal-Mart +. Wal-Mart + is now an Amazon Prime fighter, without some perks, but with a lower membership fee and gasoline discounts. In Chapter 11, Nordstrom is now offering contactless roadside pick-up for items available in your favorite store. And of course there is Amazon, the gold standard for shopping at market conditions.
Brands: the antidote to a transactional world
In this upside-down world we have extreme personalization without the personal. Detachment is now common. Delivery, transit, and distance can be profitable. However, this tactic has to live up to the brand’s promises. Brands are not just based on features and functions. A brand addresses our emotional and social needs. Strong brands define a brand character that reflects our personal values and personality.
The challenge is to keep these special, defining characteristics in the new remote environment. The challenge is to keep the promised brand experience alive when a delivery, transit and distance marketing environment is used as standard. Brands must not allow relationships to become mere transactions again. Brands need to use delivery, transit, and distance not as a means by which their customers can stay alive, but rather as a means by which their customers can feel alive.
Contribution to Branding Strategy Insider by: Larry Light, CEO of Arcature
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Brand Strategy Insider is a service from The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in brand research, brand strategy, brand growth and branding
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